Part 3 of 3: How I Refreshed our Home Spending Less Than $50

Good Friday afternoon friends! Today is somewhat bitter sweet, I’m sharing the last blog post of this little 3 part series. I’m excited to share with you today but I’m also a little sad that this is coming to an end. I’ve had a lot of fun putting this together and sharing it with you all. If you missed Mondays ‘Introduction’ post about some things I’m bringing to the new year you can find it here. Wednesday was all about ‘How I stay Organized at Home’. Where I talked about having a cleaning schedule, a meal plan and some habits that I’ve found that work for me and help my day run smoothly. Today I’m sharing ‘How I Refreshed our Home Spending Less than $50’.

The very first thing I did to start this refresh was remove everything…I’m not joking. I wanted to start with a clean slate! I wanted to purge, I wanted to shop our home and I wanted a new look for the new year without spending money, or at least not a ton of money. So I began by emptying the space in our sitting/dining room and making piles. I made a pile of décor I knew 100% I wanted to use again, then I made a pile of décor I wanted to sort through.

Once I had my spaces cleared and my two piles made, 1 pile for keeps and 1 pile for sorting I began prepping the rooms. To clean the space I simply dusted all of the surfaces, vacuumed under and around everything, washed the windows and window sills and threw the pillow covers and blankets in the wash. I then filled any nail holes that I knew I wouldn’t be using again and touched up the paint. This refresh is some what of a process and took me about two and a half days to finish but it was so worth it!

Décor to sort and purge

Decor to 100% keep

Ok up to this point I have made 2 piles, one with 100% keep items and the other is the purge/shop pile. I also have a red 30 gallon tote that I keep for décor items that I like to rotate through. This usually consists of greenery, chargers, some baskets, glass ware and wooden items. I have a rule that once the tote is spilling over I have to go through it and purge items…well, it was time. So the tote and all of the contents were added to the purge/shop pile. For the purging process I had 10 questions I would ask myself about each item.

Is this item something I use regularly?

If not, is it something I love?

Am I keeping this out of obligation or expectation?

Am I holding onto this because I think I love it?

Am I saving this just in case?

Do I have multiples of the same thing?

Could something else I own do the same thing?

Am I holding onto a broken item to fix one day?

Is this item worth the time I spend cleaning/storing it?

Could I use this space for something else?

*Bonus question-Does this item help me achieve the look and feel I want for our home? (this is a biggie my friends) After you’ve asked these 10 11 Questions to yourself you should have a keep pile and a purge pile. If there are some items that you don’t know why your holding on to them but just cant quite commit to letting them go, place them in a box and store them away for 3-4 weeks. If you haven’t needed to open the box for an item then consider it time to say goodbye.

Goodness y’all, when I finished purging it felt SO GOOD! I was excited about the items I was letting go and I honestly didn’t know why I had held onto them for so long. When I started this refresh I wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to go with it but I knew I wanted to simplify things and stay true to my style and what I love. I think I achieved that look. There’s still some tweaking to do here and there but our sitting room, dining room and entry way areas are complete! (for now (-;)

PSA: Below you will find ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos. I was able to dig up pictures of the spaces before the holidays, that I refreshed but please know that some things changed even between the ‘before’ pictures and the holidays. I tried to get photos that were as current as possible. You may notice a piece or two that may not be shown in any of the before photos. With that said, for this refresh I listed the 4 items that were bought to be added to our home. In total the refresh came in under $40 due to those 4 items.

Our sitting room before the holiday and the refresh

Our sitting room after the refresh

Sitting room before refresh

Sitting room after refresh

If you notice in these photos some items did stay in the same spot but most of the items where switched up to a new location creating a whole NEW look. The only new items I purchased for our sitting room are the candle stick holder and fiddle fig for under $30. Everything else I shopped our home for to create this new look.

Entry way table before refresh

Entry way table after refresh

Yesterday, my hubby had a doctors appointment in the ‘big city’ where all of the best stores are located. Of course I had to stop by my favorites… Homegood’s, Marshall’s, Tjmaxx and Target. Y’all I did so good! I shopped with a purpose! I only brought home this super cute blue rug for our entry that was $9.99 (we totally needed one because the other one was BAD!!!) and the blue candle $7.99 on the table (of course the house needs to smell good!). So even though I know my husband will give a huff of laughter and probably roll his eyes when he reads this but, I did good!! 🙂 The rest of the décor here we already had, just in other places of our home. But again, shopping our own home and simply moving things around created a whole new look!

Entryway before refresh

Entryway after refresh

Dining room before refresh

Dining room after refresh

For our dining room my goal was to simplify the space. I just wanted it to feel fresh, clean and cozy. Again I moved a few pieces around and some items were purged. I also received this gorgeous Farmer’s Market sign a few weeks ago from my sweet friend Jenny at Down Grace Lane and I love it hanging above our shelving unit! Giving this space a little refresh honestly made it feel more open and bigger! I was surprised!

Open shelving before refresh

Open shelving after refresh

Lastly, our family room. Again my goal for this entire refresh was to simplify our spaces. In our family room I moved and purged a lot of items that were just taking up space. I had used a gift card I received at Christmas time and bought a record player. I needed a space to sit the player and my records so I cleaned off the sofa table and used the space for another purpose! Although our family room a fresh new feel its still just as cozy and that is the main goal for this space. Its our favorite place to be!

Well friends, that’s it for today! I hope you all enjoyed this little process I shared with you and I hope that it inspires you to start clearing spaces and making piles!! Clear out the clutter and shop your home! Its amazing what you can do with the items you already own! Love a red vase but its just not your style anymore? Think outside of the box a little. Sometimes we have all the pieces we need to create the home we love but they may need a little face lift or refresh of their own! Grab some paint or use the pieces for a different purpose all together! Just have fun with it and remember its all about creating spaces that YOU and your family love!!!!

Hi! I love your open shelves that you have in the dining area. Do you recall the dimensions of the wood you used? I am in the process of trying to decide what I should use and love how yours turned out. Thanks so much!

A little about me

Hi! My name is Misty, I'm 31 years old, a stay at home mom of three, we are a homeschool family and I've been married to my amazing husband for 10 years. I love Fall, cool crisp mornings, blankets, pillows...but most of all, COFFEE! Here on the blog I share DIY projects that I love, home décor and some lifestyle things like cleaning schedules, products I love using and so on. The nitty gritty of the home next to the pretty stuff. I hope you all enjoy reading my blog as much as I love sharing it with you!